Most definitely, F.E.A.R. Extraction Point doesn't live all the way up to its predecessor, simply because it's much too conservative in its approach (if such a characterization is even possible). It provides even fewer novelties and an excessive timidity in extending the gameplay driven possibilities. But even "crippled" as it is, the TimeGate Studios project proves itself as a memorable and concentrated experience, for both the fans that are craving for another fragment of the Special Forces repertoire, and for those who prefer the first-person shooters with a supernatural twist. No more, and no less. The final decision belongs to you.

Unfortunately, when you're done with the single-player campaign, that's pretty much all there is to Extraction Point. That's because the multiplayer component of F.E.A.R. has already been split off from the single-player game, and it's been made available on the Internet for free under the name F.E.A.R. Combat. You don't even need to own F.E.A.R. or Extraction Point to play it. That means there's not a lot of replay value in this expansion. You won't miss much if you don't play Extraction Point, but if you do like your action and horror blended together and you liked the original game, you should give this one a try.

Even on the highest difficulty setting, Extraction Point is going to take around five hours to beat. Considering only four of the six intervals turn out to be full-featured stages, that's pretty bare bones in terms of price versus gameplay time. The expansion also adds nothing to the multiplayer. It still offers more excellent first-person shooting gameplay, but feels like something that could have been tacked on the end of the original product. While Extraction Point's extra features may look great on paper, playing the game all the way through reveals this expansion is too thin.

Monolith achieved their first real commercial hit in F.E.A.R. in 2005 after a string of critically acclaimed but low selling action games. The expansion pack, however, was made by Timegate and their first venture in the first person shooter genre ends to be a little disappointing. They replicated a lot of the surface that made the original so good but F.E.A.R. Extraction Point ultimate feels hollow when you finish it, thanks in large part to a storyline that’s less of an expansion and more of an extended ending to the original.

When you get down to it, there's nothing inherently bad about Extraction Point; it's just hard to find much that's new that makes it worth picking up, even to the biggest F.E.A.R. fans. The graphics look the same, the levels, weapons and enemies are largely recycled from the original, and the story lacks anything remotely approaching the payoff that made F.E.A.R. feel so satisfying. Buy it if you're absolutely dying to get even the slightest bit of background on the main characters, but it appears all the good stuff is being saved for a full sequel.

None of this will be a problem if you simply want a single-player first-person shooter expansion pack, of course. Extraction Point ticks all the boxes. But with everything including the multiplayer modes largely the same, you could achieve much the same effect just by playing the original game again. After all, it's been a year, and you've probably half-forgotten what the story was about anyway. Basically this is still worth a go if you're obsessed with what happened in F.E.A.R, and must know more, but otherwise you'd be better off buying an FPS you haven't played yet, or renting a few horror films instead. Anyway, go back to sleep.

For any top-selling PC shooter, the expansion pack is an inevitable release. The idea of building new levels from an existing (and proven) engine and storyline is too good to pass up. So, slightly more than a year since the release of the massively entertaining F.E.A.R. comes the first expansion: the brief but action-saturated Extraction Point.

I've just completed F.E.A.R. Extraction Point, the expansion pack to F.E.A.R. (review 95%), one of the best games of last year. The expansion takes up right after you kill the last boss of the original game. The story takes place in six episodes. Unfortunately, the story in the game is more like a epilogue to the original F.E.A.R. than an expansion story. It leaves more questions than answers, having you escape through a destitute city landscape as hordes of replicants pour at you from all directions. The traditional flashback sequences from the first game are in the game. Also present are transitions that move from the normal level to a scary level, like when the building behind you all of a sudden is engulfed in flames for no reason.

Thus, we’ve got about six hours of the same good stuff the original had in spades. At thirty dollars, Extraction Point feels more like an overpriced mod than a full-fledged expansion. Unless you’ve really got to prove you can make it through the same haunt twice, you should buy a ticket for a new ride.